Data migration is a process, but it doesn’t have to be a problematic one. Preparing and understanding how to move your data properly will help avoid any preliminary pitfalls and make a successful migration possible.

While working through data migration, it’s beneficial to evaluate the digital infrastructure of your system and consider both the content and volume of your data.

It’s important to have a capable system for data migration to ensure user stability. Once you know how you want to store and access the data, you can decide the next best step to plan the appropriate migration method. A managed migration can assist the transition by staging data for synchronicity, compatibility, and long-term success.

By following the principles below, you’ll ensure your data migration undertaking is not only successful but efficient.

1. Prepare to prevent data loss

Transferring data using disparate systems increases the risk of lost data. By converting data entry with software, speeds up the process and diminishes the manual maintenance of the migration. The conversion also avoids extended delays in critical situations and gives readily available access to needed information. When going from one system to another, you don’t want to alter the data, but you’ll need to understand it. Work towards creating a compatible format, then by extracting the data, it’ll not only be secure, but it will come without unnecessary cost.

2. Record, Audit, Validate

Migrated data receives a source system ID and indexes meta-data for document classification. The unique identity can track and find any file by its name, size, and location. It is critical to properly match the source ID so nothing is lost in translation. Avoiding this common mistake, enables a mass amount of data to be filtered into a format to be better managed, have higher visibility, and be more organized.

3. Trust The Experts

Data can be moved from anywhere to anywhere. To ensure the smoothest migration, it’s crucial you choose a team of experts who utilize a combination of the right tools and technology. Experienced professionals will not only consolidate the different formats of data into an easily accessible and secure platform but also customize and configure that data to fit your needs.

Data migrations are an essential step in building a digital infrastructure for your organization, but taking that on internally can not only be taxing to your staff but can push your budget to the breaking point.

As you start to evaluate the system’s size and complexity, along with how the documents are classified, structured, and stored, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the project ahead. With adequate planning and resourcing you can be confident in the outcomes of your migration project.